"One can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age I always did it for one half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
-Lewis Carrol "Through the Looking Glass"

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

X - Race and Culture

1) (True/False) Basketball is a culturally biased game
because African-American Basketball Players play better than White, Hispanic
and Asian players

2) (True/False) Because a disproportionate
percentage of African Americans have a criminal record, restrictions against
hiring convicts is racist

4) (True/False) An
inadequate supply of heroes, role models or historic group achievements is the
fault of historians.

5) A series of
foot races between a black man and a white man can be considered fair if

a) Both
participants start at the same time and do not foul each other while running

b)
The judge determining the winner is black

c)
Both participants grew up in the same home, in the same town and used the same
gym

d)
Only if the white man wins as often as the black man

e)
Only if the white man is burdened

f)
Only if the black man gets a head start

6) Prejudice
is:

a)
Any belief a white person has about a minority group

b) The forming of
opinions about a group in the absence of empirical data

c) The belief
that any negative opinion of a minority group is the result of prejudice

d)
The sole cause of disparities in the societal performance of two groups

e) The belief
that anyone who has belief in God is a dangerous religious zealot dedicated to
imposing their beliefs on others

7) Mercator
Projection Maps should be banned because

a) They distort
the size and shape of landmasses s around the equator to be smaller than
landmasses near the poles

b) They are accurate
in terms of direction and therefore useful for navigation

c) The world is
flat and projection maps aren’t required

d)
They are an example of European Arrogance

e)
They are part of a plot to foster Eurocentric and Imperialist attitudes

8)
One cultural/political system is as good as another because

a) They all
provide the same level of prosperity and standard of living

b) They all
provide for the same amount of individual freedom (speech, beliefs)

c) They
all provide the same protections on property and personal liberty

d) They all provide the
same degree of opportunity to all individuals

e) They all
allow the same range of individual achievement

f) They are
academic constructs with no practical real-world value

g)
We must respect other cultures

9)
Multiculturalism (mark all that apply):

a)
Encourages individuals from identifying with the traditions,
language and beliefs of an ancestral culture that they have never lived in
while rejecting the wider American culture they were born into

b) Is the belief that
one should conform to traditional norms when visiting or emigrating to other
lands (“When in Rome do as the
Romans do”)

c) The
embodiment of the “Great American Melting Pot” in which people of different
races and cultures identify themselves with the traditions, language and
beliefs of the wider American culture while integrating aspects of their
ancestral culture into the American cultural tapestry

g) Is demonstrated by
celebrating the U.S. Independence Day in a foreign land using their public
funds

h)
Is demonstrated by celebrating the Mexican Independence Day in the U.S.
with public funds

i)
Is demonstrated by banning display of American Flag to avoid offending visiting
foreigners

j) Protecting
cultural traditions that are not protected in their country of origin

k) The result of all U.S
minorities being born in a country other than the United
States

l) Encouraging
members of a diverse groups to see themselves as part
of the same group.

m)
Encouragement of greater equality by freeing minorities from the brutal
oppression and expectations of the American culture imposed upon them without
their consent

n)
Provides additional use for the hyphen character that was being unfairly
neglected in preference for other alpha-numeric
characters more central to the language.

10) The Phrase “Equal
Access” means

a) All persons
have equal opportunities to receive an education, jobs and pay that are
commensurate with their education, skills and abilities

b)
Certain persons should be granted special opportunities and considerations to
receive an education, jobs and pay over other persons depending on group
membership

c)
All persons should receive the same results regardless of their
education, skills, abilities and effort

d)
More equality

11) If someone invented
a machine that would remove racism from society, which of the following would
happen:

a)
The NAACP, Jesse Jackson and other Civil Rights groups would celebrate, have a
party, and disband because they were no longer needed

b) The test scores of
Asians would drop to be in line with those of whites

c) Civil
Rights groups would attempt to maintain their power by
citing statistical disparities caused by other non-discrimination related
factors to prove the machine did not work, and claim more entitlement
programs were needed.

d)
More equality

12) Which Factors below might affect the pay that any
person will receive and should be taken into account
when determining if a given ethnic group is receiving equal pay for equal work
or if they are victims of illegal discrimination?

13) What factors need
to be controlled for when comparing the performance of different groups in
order to determine how much of a performance gap is caused by societal
discrimination and bias against that group. Check all that apply:

k)
None of the above; any performance gap is the result of discrimination and bias

14) A racist
individual will always put racial discrimination ahead of other factors
therefore (mark all that apply)

a)
African-Americans were popular as entertainers on Broadway in the 1920s because
it was a good joke

b) The slaves imported
to the American South were not worked to death while the ones imported to Brazil
were because the White-Slave holders in the south were less racist than the
ones in Brazil

c) The entire
National Baseball League suddenly had a change of heart about their
discrimination of African-Americans in 1947 when the Brooklyn
Dodgers hired Jackie Robinson

d)
Any disparity in the performance or behavior of African Americans as compared
to other groups is due to racism

15) Affirmative
Action Laws should be supported because:

a) Two wrongs
make a (constitutional) right

b) They only serve
the most advantaged members of the group they protect

c) The least
qualified members of the unprotected group are fairly passed over in
preference for a even less qualified member of the protected group, because
every member of the unprotected group is a racist